Author
Topic: TRU "Battle of Endor" Pilot 4-packs (Read 22807 times)

Okay, I just got off the phone with a TRU.com rep. Here is the story they gave me:

TRU Online (a seperate division of TRU from the retail stores) was to receive a shipment of the Endor Battle Packs from Hasbro. The guy looked it up and found that Hasbro notified TRU Online they would miss the promised shipment date by more than 30 days. The shipment is no longer pending and they don't know if they will get these online or not. He then claimed the FTC requires TRU Online to either deliver product or cancel orders if they will be delayed by more than 30 days. He apologized profusely for the hassle and gave me two additional options:

#1 - if the item is available again on TRU.com at a later date, they will honor the total price or my cancelled order (Buy two, get one free)#2 - they can't offer a coupon for retail because they are different divisions, but if I can find these items at retail, I can fax the receipts to TRU.com and get a promotional code (for online use) in the amount of the difference.

Truth or Fiction?

I'm still unhappy about not getting these and I still wonder if there isn't something to them saving money on the deal. However, there are a few facts to consider here:

#1 - they make a pretty good margin on these items. I'm sure that while lower, they still make a nice profit selling three sets (or more) per household#2 - they cancelled everyone's orders. I know some people ordered 4 or more of these, so if it was just all about money I'd be surprised that they don't want to sell any of these. Yes, they could just post them again when they are in stock, but who knows if they would sell out after this backlash? Seems risky from a financial perspective.#3 - they were still willing to offer me the promotional price if/when these become available online. They even came up with a creative offer if I could find them at retail.

Seems like a lot of evidence to support that they just couldn't fill the orders on time and unwisely dropped the orders without communicating very well. Maybe this is just good damage control after a few days of bad PR, but it seems unlikely that they couldn't come up with a good initial spin for cancelling, then rebound 180 degrees in a matter of days.

Net-net, I'm still not overly happy with TRU, but I'll stop bashing them with every other post based on the good CS response.

UPDATE:See the info below on FTC regulations. This is a bit different than the CS person eluded to, but I can see it being easier to just cancel orders than to make sure consumers are notified, especially if the Buy 2G1 deal meant they weren't going to make much profit.

Mail-Order Merchandise Rule. This regulation, also known as the 30-Day Rule, is designed to protect consumers from unexpected delays in receiving merchandise ordered through the mail. It allows the customer to cancel any order not received within the time period advertised or, if none is stated, 30 days of order. According to the rule, in those instances in which shipment of goods is delayed, a customer must be notified within 15 days of placing his or her order. Moreover, if shipment is delayed past the agreed-upon delivery date (or 30 days), then the business must send a postage-paid return notice notifying the buyer that he or she may terminate the order for a full refund, which must be received within seven business days.

I guess I have a coupon code credited to my account to get a discount on my next purchase from them plus free fast shipping. I supposedly have to call in and place the order so they can look up the code note in my cancelled order when I am making my next purchase...

#2 - they can't offer a coupon for retail because they are different divisions, but if I can find these items at retail, I can fax the receipts to TRU.com and get a promotional code (for online use) in the amount of the difference.

Truth or Fiction?

when I spoke to the supervisor about this proposed solution she said she cannot do it, and, if they can't, I can understand why. The stores and the online store are 2 different entities. I would equate it similar to WM and Best Buy not price matching their own website, and CircuitCity.com still alive and kicking while the stores are dead.

I totally believe they can't mix and match coupons between the two. I've run into that with other retailers like Target. I meant Truth or Fiction for the overall explanation versus TRU just wanting to save money.

#1 - they make a pretty good margin on these items. I'm sure that while lower, they still make a nice profit selling three sets (or more) per household#2 - they cancelled everyone's orders. I know some people ordered 4 or more of these, so if it was just all about money I'd be surprised that they don't want to sell any of these. Yes, they could just post them again when they are in stock, but who knows if they would sell out after this backlash? Seems risky from a financial perspective.#3 - they were still willing to offer me the promotional price if/when these become available online. They even came up with a creative offer if I could find them at retail.

Seems like a lot of evidence to support that they just couldn't fill the orders on time and unwisely dropped the orders without communicating very well.

Sure, but this is the Internet, so why assume a mistake was honest and unforeseeable when we can assume a premeditated attempt to swindle us?

We could at least give TRU the benefit of the doubt and assume that if they really were worried about selling these during a sale that they would have had the foresight to post them after the sale. As it is, I can see no reason not to assume they intentionally put these out during the sale as an incentive to buy, so they could be just as annoyed as we are that the product wasn't there. There's a good deal of motivation in retail to increase the number of items per transaction even at the expense of discounting the total sale.

Logged

I hate softgoods!!!

You're making me apathetic. You won't like me when I'm apathetic. I get big, green, and don't give a ****.

what Jayson saidI even just got off the phone with TRU.com and they said the same thing - without the "add to cart button" they cannot do anything either....

Same experience here. When I called this past Saturday the guy left a note on my account to honor the BOGO deal if they come in. I thought I would be able to cash it in this morning but without the add cart they cannot do squat. Very annoying!

I am pretty sure mine got them in today. I stopped in and had the CS check off the item number and said it looked like they were on the sipping manifesto. She said I should check back later or tomorrow - I thanked her for the info.

I saw these last night...and I just couldn't buy them. I've really lost my enthusiasm for much of this stuff. The sets just looked like too much of the same. I could swear I have a pilot in each of those uniforms. And if I don't, I no longer care. They look like ok sets if you're just getting into this stuff, but...I don't know. I would have liked the R5 unit, and the Bat Helmet...but I just couldn't pull the trigger...